What Is It?

These are original objects from Bell's work at his Beinn Bhreagh Laboratories near Baddeck during the late 1800s and early 1900s. When Bell completed an experiment, some of its pieces were reused while others weren't. When the Bell family donated the collection to the Government of Canada, it arrived both as complete objects and pieces of earlier experiments. These objects are the remains of Bell's experimentation process, and may have helped develop the first powered flight in Canada in 1909 or the world's fastest boat in 1919. We don't know how they were used or for what purpose. We hope you can help us identify our past.